About me

Hello! I'm Julie, grower of all things organic, including three kids. I'm a Master Gardener, heirloom specialist, owner of Garden Delights, and lover of all things garden and nature-related. I write the blog Garden Delights, a chronicle of growing gardens, growing green, growing locavores, growing kids, and growing one day at a time.

I could make excuses: I'm readjusting to the back-to-school routine, focusing on writing, cleaning the house (my husband is rolling his eyes now). Honestly, the gardens just look so...depressing.

Then yesterday, while searching a website, I found my motivation:

*World Kitchen Garden Day—Sunday, August 26, 2012. *

Launched by

Kitchen Gardeners International

as a healthy response to the International Snack Food Association's “Snack Food Month,” World Kitchen Garden Day is an opportunity to gather in gardens with friends, family, and neighbors to celebrate the pleasures and benefits of home-grown, homemade food.

Real food. Local food. Healthy food.

Now, that's something to celebrate!

World Kitchen Garden Day is an excellent motivator to get our gardens whipped into shape.

Plus, I can spin it into a fun, family event, instead of tackling the gardens by myself—HA! It's a holiday, after all—right? Maybe I'll invite friends and neighbors, too, and share some of the weed-pulling, soil-amending, planting fun in our gardens.

Of course, I'd feed them yummy local food. I have a great recipe for Peach Crisp.

In honor of World Kitchen Garden Day, I have a giveaway to inspire you to get your hands dirty!

World Kitchen Garden Day Giveaway

The winner will receive:

\$25 gift certificate for Seed Savers Exchange

to purchase your kitchen garden seeds. (They also have a great selection of books and gardening gifts.)

-and-

No matter your political beliefs (and let's check those at the door, please)--this is a beautiful book. In 2008, Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI) initiated a high-profile public awareness and advocacy campaign known as "Eat the View," calling on the White House to plant a kitchen garden. The organization believed that if a kitchen garden could be planted in such a high-profile location, it might inspire millions of people to plant their own gardens. With more than 110,000 signatures on KGI's White House garden petition, the administration took notice.

So did most of the country, as the White House South Lawn became filled with fruits, vegetables, herbs—and thousands of visitors.

From the inception of the garden to the planning, soil testing, crop selection, community involvement, fails, and even seasonal recipes,

American Grown

is more than just a coffee table book. The layout and photography is gorgeous, but I especially loved the profiles of gardens and gardeners across the country, as well as the seasonal planting diagrams of the White House Kitchen Garden.

There are several ways to enter the giveaway—and each action counts as a separate entry. That's right, you can enter up to FOUR times! Here's how:

Leave a comment on this post with your name and your favorite homegrown fruit or vegetable. (If you don't currently follow Growing Days, I would be grateful if you would “Join this Site.” If you already follow Growing Days—thank you!)

“Like” my Garden Delights Facebook page and leave a comment. I share more gardening tips and information on the FB page. (Again, thank you if you've already liked the page—just leave a comment!)

Repin this post on Pinterest. To make it easy, you can just Repin this pin.

Share this post with your friends on Facebook.

Giveaway details:

The contest deadline is midnight EST on Friday, August 31, 2012.

The winner must be a resident of the continental U.S.

The winner will be selected by a random drawing.

The winner will be announced in an update to this post and on my Facebook page during the first week of September.